Bare Knuckle Boot Camp Brute Force Strat

The Brute Force Strat set is the next in my coverage of Bare Knuckle’s Boot Camp series of single coil pickups. Be sure to hit that link to get a run down on the other models, as I think these are totally worth your time and belong in your guitar(s). Why is that? Glad you asked! LOL!

The chaps at BKP make an excellent product. And a high quality item from their menu is worth every quid. Some players consider a boutique level pickup to be a step in to the big league. It can be hard to come to the decision of which one. The Boot Camp series makes that easier. A line of pickups that are ready to go with options that are pared to pretty much black or white covers. Most of the time, the Boot Camp selection has you taken care of. For those that want to take it to 11, you will be familiar with the BKP world and can easily see where to navigate within their Standard Range.

Installation

These Brute Force Strat pickups are in a 1990 American Standard Stratocaster w/ maple neck and 22 frets on a 25-1/2″ maple board. Strings are 09-42 with standard E tuning. This is the same guitar and harness as the Old Guard Strat and the True Grit Strat pickup articles.

For the harness, I’m using the new Mojotone Solderless Convertible Strat Guitar Wiring Harness, from the mind of their pickup guru David Shepherd. This has CTS custom taper pots, CRL 5-way switch, Switchcraft jack, and Mojotone Dijon .022uF capacitor. This harness has dip switches for either standard switching or “blender” switching, which allows blending of the neck and bridge pickups, I have the treble bleed switch ‘on’ for this evaluation.

Evaluation

Tell The Tale

Gather round the campfire, young Padawan, and let me regale you with tall tales of a time long gone by called the 1980s! I was once a shredder, the same as your father. Or maybe your grandfather. LOL! It was the new age of neoclassical metal. If you’re digging in to your family storage locker and find these odd-looking cartridges that we call audio “cassette tapes”, you might spot some of those players from back then. HaHa! There was fast and there was fluid and they existed at the same time! LOL! If you want that sound in today’s guitar, look no further!

OK, So… Really

That’s really the short version. HaHa! No, really. These are the pickups that have the focus of the single coil narrow magnetic field. But with a rip-roaring throaty voice that’s saturated with a strong, muscle-bound character. You can see by the Tone Graph (below) that the lows are kicked up, the mids are through the roof, and the highs are dialed down. Which translates to a more even and balanced personality than your typical classic Stratocaster single coil tone.

As with the prior Boot Camp Strat models, this set is also exceptionally dialed-in across the set so that making any stop along the 5-way switch sounds like you’re getting the same Brute Force flavor. No night-and-day surprises here… you know what I’m talking about! LOL! And isn’t that what you want from a complete set? A tone that you can trust from one toggle position to the next? You have other things to be thinking about… such as nailing that perfect rock-and-roll pose to impress the hot strawberry blonde in the front row of your gig! HaHa!

If you’re in to finger-cramping super-speedy 128th note fretboard pyrotechnics, these are the single coils to give you both fluidity and clarity. These are also the single coils to use when you want the equilibrium of the balance in the voicing to set in the pocket. You can hear what I mean by that in the 1st sample in the Demo below.

Specs

Demo

Here is an official demo of the entire Brute Force series. The single coils come in at about 00:40 and again at about 01:43.

Conclusion

The flat poles make this a great choice for some of the more modern fretboard radius and a more even string balance. If you’re looking to mix-and-match, maybe consider the Brute Force Strat bridge as a strong lead to blend with the True Grit Strat middle and neck. Or perhaps the True Grit Strat neck, Old Guard Strat Middle and Brute Force Strat bridge to cover all the bases.

The Brute Force Strat set is going to be good for high gain rock, prog metal, thrash, hardcore, extreme metal, and more! You can get them à la carte or as a full batch. They are availabele with your choice of black or white colors. If you just must let your freak flag fly, visit the BKP Accessories Shop to access Strat Singlecoil Covers in colors to meet your needs.

For reference, this Bare Knuckle Brute Force Strat single coil pickup set evaluation was conducted with the following: Fractal Axe-Fx II XL+ featuring Celestion Impluse Responses and Fractal MFC-101 MIDI Foot Controller. ADA MP-1 Tube Pre-Amp loaded with Tube Amp Doctor ECC83 Premium Selected tubes, using the ADA MC-1 MIDI Controller. Fryette LX II Stereo Tube Power Amplifier. Physical cabs use are Marshall 1960B, Mojotone British, and Peavey 6505 cabs loaded with Celestion Classic Series Vintage 30s and Classic Series G12M Greenbacks.

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